Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Real Life Social Network v2 by Google Researcher

A really great story from a Google researcher about connectivity and privacy online. Just 224 slides, but worth it all the way. Check it out before you leave the office tonight, the you can leave the office after the traffic jams! ;-)

Mileena Kasting - Mortal Kombat 9 | casting trailer [HD] OFFICIAL Traile...



A close look 'behind the scene' of Mortal Combat 9 - genuinely stunning game. I played it on PlayStation 3 and it really rules!

Stunning research about iPad usage

Information (the numbers) taken from website Advertising Age:

Research done by Ipsos shows that over 50% of parents let children play games on their iPad that are not really suitable for them. I've been hearing this around my social network as well, but is that really a bad thing? I remember I was playing cops and robbers even before I had seen Miami Vice. Shooting people with fake-revolvers was fun. Can't we compare playing shooter or aggressive games with playing in real-life? If you look at what Tom & Jerry did to each other you might wonder if those animation series should be rated 18+ or 'Adult-only'... for some reason, no one seems to care....until it comes to games...?


By the Numbers

  • 18% of parents will let their tween boys aged 9-12 play video games rated adult only, and 36% will let them play games rated mature, provided a parent is playing too.
  • 20% of parents will let children 6-12 go with them to R rated movies.
  • 23% of children 6-12 regularly visit social networking sites and 41% of kids 11-12 do so, though membership in the sites is supposed to be limited to 13 and up.
  • By age 11, half of kids have cellphones. Half of the time it's the parents' idea.
  • Kids in the household are huge drivers of iPad penetration. 10% of households with children under 13 now have iPads, vs. only 3% in households without children 6-12.
  • 35% of households with children 6-12 plan to purchase some brand of tablet computer in the next year.
  • Over half of parents say their children should be able to go online on their own by age 6.

Read the full article at Advertising Age


Triazzle Island Sneak Peak.m4v





Jesse Schell (famous for his Ted Talk about Gamification) is developing a new puzzle game. Although not my genre, it looks really nice and a rich form of puzzle-play with immersive gameplay, nice animations and warm music! Brands can definitely tap into this genre using icons that go with their brand. Can you spot icons and animations that reminds you of specific brands? The birds perhaps?

I like the name a lot. Triazzle. It sounds like Snoop Doggy Dog talk: the Shizzle for my Nizzle. Play the Triazzla tot the Mazzle - nice Shazzle!

Game on!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Laat met je merk spelen te koop in Kluwer Shop! [Dutch only sorry]

Vandaag een mooi artikel over Gamification in het Parool. Daarom even een doorverwijzing naar de verkooppunten waar mijn boek verkrijgbaar is.

Mijn boek 'Laat met je merk spelen' is te koop via Bol.com, Managementboek.nl en de Kluwer Webshop. Uiteraard ligt het ook bij Selexyz en de betere boekhandels.

De gratis samenvatting kun je HIER downloaden (rechtsboven op 'demo' klikken).


Friday, April 22, 2011

iCade! - Arcade control for iPad

This is 'Da Bomb' for all you arcade-classics game lovers and Atari fans.

As most of you know, I used to work for Atari over a decade ago and this surely brings back memories!

Check out this Arcade-control hub for iPad!

Together with all your favorite classic Atari games (The app is called 'Atari Greatest Hits' in the iTunes store) you can replay the legendary games on this great console!


The screen below shows you how it works. I WANT TO PLAY DONKEY KONG !!!





PlayStation 3 sells art and arthouse movies

Content is King says John de Mol from Talpa. Talpa and Sanoma Media recently bought three Dutch Television stations (SBS, Net 5 and Veronica).

Content is King has been proven by iTunes. Even though some songs only sell about a thousand times, if your media library consists of hundreds of thousands songs (apps, books, games, podcasts) and you sell them for 1 euro each, you can still make millions! And they are making millions...


Sony's PlayStation Portable was the first device able of playing film, music, games, etc. and since Sony PlayStation 3 was released in 2005 with the same interface and menu they are offering more and more interesting content: for free, trial, light versions, demo's add-ons and full versions of games, music, movies, manage your photo & films and now: buy ART!

I predicted some time ago that it was time to fill flat-screen TV's with art and now Sony is taking the first step to bring art to our households.

Check out 'Studio' a new tool to buy and download art from renowned and new artists like Jonathan Calugi, Rex Crowle, Anthony Burrill, Craig Redmans, Mr. Bingo, Mr. Jago and many more.



More information at: http://www.playstation.com

PlayStation 3 has sold over 50 million units

After the announcement from Sony PlayStation a few months ago that the PlayStation 2 console sold over 150 million times, they reported last week that the PlayStation 3, their latest - and according to some experts last home-play console - sold over 50 million times.

PlayStation Portable (PSP) has sold 68 million units Year to Date...

I guess people are still eager to play!

Playtime (Speelkwartier) by BrandNewGame, Flavour & Spil Games


Spil Games, Flavour and BrandNewGame joined forced in The Netherlands to organize an event to enlighten brands and organizations about how games can be used to achieve marketing goals.

The event is in Hillywood (Hilversum - The Netherlands) on the 19th of May from 14:00 hours.

Bart Hufen (BrandNewGame) will explain more about the digital consumer of 'now', show the history of gaming and explain why games are such an effective marketing tool.
Emily Jacometti (Flavour) will show a fantastic and effective case how a gameconcept they developed helped to achieve marketing objectives from one of their clients.
Oscar Diele (Spil Games) will show how they have proven in the past 10 years that gameportals can reach over 150 million people worldwide and 1,5 million people in The Netherlands through social media like Hyves. Members are playing games by average of 10 minutes every day!

From today on, there are 10 seats available and you (product-, brand- and marketing managers) can subscribe NOW!

www.speel-kwartier.nl

There will be a special session for advertising and media-agencies in June of July this year, so this event is for Brands and Organizations only!




Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Nature revisited...

Real or Sur-real?

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Friday, April 15, 2011

PeopleBrowsr's Brief Cartoon Study Of Social Influencers

Very nice way to tell a story about social media throughout the past five years: through cartoon images!

Great work by Adam Long and PeopleBrowsr !

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Big In Japan - Alphaville Please donate for Japan!



I was just watching the Dutch TV and saw a fantastic concert put together to help people in Japan. Us Dutch people are always complaining about our country and people living in Holland, but it's AMAZING what we put together in such a short time.

To all my Dutch readers, please show your gratitude on Giro 6868 today.

This song inspired me since the eighties and the 3:48 is just enough time to do your thing through your online bank account ;-)

Hopefully the world gets a bit wiser and countries will start to help each other instead of fighting wars over land, oil, power or religion...

Play on!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Social Media Research - an annual report from Michael Steizner


This presentation gives an insight on the most relevant social media used in USA. It's about Search, Tools, Services, Lead generation and investment in social media like Twitter and Youtube from a brand-perspective.


Social Media Marketing Industry Report 2011 from Michael A. Stelzner on Vimeo.


More information on http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Fiat uses game mechanics to reduce CO2 emission

Did you see the Fiat Ecodrive system?

It's real cool!

Check the video to see how it works!

There is even a 'EcoVille' (comparable to Farmville in a way ;-) where the top 500 eco-friendly drivers are listed! You can compare your results to friends, your country and even the world!

This is a FANTASTIC example how we can all try to save our planet using playful solutions!

Long live the Gamification of Society!




More examples are featured in my book 'A Brand New Playground'.

You can download the free summary HERE

Saturday, April 9, 2011

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Rube Goldberg Machine version - Official



This video is awesome! Shot in one take, check the Ted Talk by Adam Sadowsky - I tweeted it on Twitter.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

SORRY! - Less posts than usual...



Just wanted to apologize for a second for not posting so many new articles lately.

We are happy to say that we're awfully busy with some great projects for some of our clients.

I am still busy posting interesting news, research and opinions on Twitter, so please feel free to follow my tweets @BartHufen

Topics I tweet about are #gamification #gamevertising #brandnewplayground (my upcoming book)  #gameresearch and more...

Hopefully we will have more time towards beginning of may - so stay tuned!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Games for Training purposes for a BIG Bank [Dutch only: Sorry]§

In this presentation Dick Krikke answers three short answers about the games that IJsfontein developed for ABN AMRO bank. I was personally involved in the analyses for the first game (The Retail Game).

It explains the why, how and success in three strong statements.